Seeing the Light
by WingedArcher1
Summary: Lucius had a problem. On one hand he had his vows to St. Elimine and on the other he had his feelings for a certain slightly abrasive yet strangely attractive pink haired cleric named Serra.


**A/N- This is another entry in the 'Mark and Lyn get together' timeline I have going. You don't have to read the other stories to understand this one though. Just note because Mark stayed around and didn't disappear Lucius decided to build his orphanage near where he lives in Sacae instead of Araphen. Also this is an attempt at an 'A' support ending between Lucius and Serra.**

Seeing the Light

Lucius had a problem. On one hand he had his vows to St. Elimine and on the other he had his feelings for a certain slightly abrasive yet strangely attractive pink haired cleric named Serra. Not to mention the fact that the both of them were also building an orphanage in Sacae in their spare time. The thing was Lucius could have sworn that St. Elimine had put him and Serra together for a reason, with the two of them being somewhat tortured souls and all. And it's not like these feelings are recent either, he noticed these feelings ever since he was part of Eliwood's group of fighters who defeated Nergal and stopped the dragon. Lucius figured that today should be the day he made a decision, but he wanted some advice. So he traveled over to meet his friend Mark, who used to be a famed tactician, since he and his wife Lyn lived near where the orphanage was being built. When he got to their ger he tapped on the outside with his staff since there wasn't much of a door.

"Brother Mark, are you here?" He called out when there was no response. He had been in the habit of calling him 'brother' since he was teaching him how to use low level light magic if he ever needed to defend himself. Eventually Mark came to the opening with a sleepy look in his eyes and displaced hair.

"Hm, morning Lucius." He said as he yawned. "What brings you to my little slice of heaven so early?"

"Brother Mark it's almost noon." Lucius answered with a pinch of confusion.

"Oh really?" Mark said pondering. "Well what can I say, having a kid is a full time job. But you'll be finding that out soon enough. So how are you today Lucius?"

"I'm conflicted. I was hoping I could come to you for some advice since you're one of my friends." Lucius told him in a serious tone. Not that he thought Mark was acting flippant though.

"Sure thing. But let's move away from the ger a bit, Lyn and the baby are still sleeping and probably will be for a while." So the two of them walked a bit until they reached the end of the clearing where Mark and Lyn lived. "I can tell you're distressed Lucius, how can I help?"

"Well, it's about Sister Serra. I've had these romantic feelings for her for a while and I don't know what to do. I have a feeling that if I confess my feelings for her it will lead to me breaking my vows to St. Elimine but then again if I don't I feel like I'll have regrets for the rest of my life." Lucius confessed. What he didn't know was that Mark had probably gone through conversations like this a dozen times. But this time was different since he really didn't have a clear cut answer.

"That certainly is a tough one Lucius. Is there any sort of punishment for breaking or renouncing your vows?" That information could help him make a decision.

"Not in this life, but it breaking them could harm my chances in the afterlife. And if I renounce them I'll lose most of my magic ability and I wouldn't be able to defend myself as well. But then again regret leads to depression which leads to less faith which means less ability anyway." Lucius was not making this any easier.

"Lucius, I'm going to tell you something that I've barely ever admitted to anyone ever. I have no idea how to help you out. I'm sorry, but I don't see a clear cut answer for your predicament." Mark admitted.

"Well thank you for listening at least Brother Mark, it was nice to get this off my chest for a while." Lucius said with his ever present smile. For some reason this hit Mark pretty hard so he felt the need to speak up again.

"You're welcome. But let me let you in on a little secret. When I'm having problems thinking I like to go down to the waterfall and take a dip. The water seems to refresh and clear my mind of any problems. Maybe it could do that for you as well."

"That could work." Lucius said slowly as he pondered the thought. "And it's about time I took a bath anyway. Well, I'll see you later Brother Mark." And with that Lucius started walking into the woods where the waterfall was. Mark felt a weight lift off his chest as he went back to his ger, but as he got there he saw Serra standing outside of it talking to Lyn who was holding their child.

"Oh, he's such a cutie." He heard as he walked up. "But why doesn't he have green hair like you Lyn?"

"We're not too sure to tell the truth." Lyn answered. "Oh, there you are Mark. Where were you?"

"I was talking to Lucius over on the other side of the clearing. He asked me for some advice and I didn't want to wake the two of you." Before Lyn could respond back Serra cut in.

"Wait, you know where Lucius is?" She asked a bit loudly. "I've been looking all over for him." Mark wondered why this turn of events was happening right now, but kept his cool.

"Yeah, I think he went down to the waterfall to bathe himself and to think." He hoped that telling Serra this wouldn't cause a problem, but he couldn't take it back now.

"Oh, then I guess I was worried for nothing." Serra said relieved. "Well, see you three later." And with that she ran of towards where the waterfall was.

"Mark, are you playing matchmaker again?" Lyn asked when she was out of earshot.

"I have no idea on this one, so maybe." Mark said which got Lyn to chuckle.

"Well come on inside, breakfast should be almost done." Meanwhile, Serra was trekking through the woods trying to not get her dress dirty.

"I swear this better be worth it or I'll... well I don't know what I'll do, but he better be close." She said a bit exasperated. But it wasn't the woods or the dirt that was doing it, it was Lucius himself. Serra once thought it impossible but it seemed to her that she had fallen for him. And to make things worse, he wasn't responding to any of her advances. Every time they would share a tender moment he would say he had something to do and run away. So Serra figured if she held his clothes hostage he'd have to tell her what's up. Eventually she saw a hint of light blue hanging from a tree branch and she could smell fresh water running near by. Too bad for her Lucius had put his robes too high to reach. So she huffed over to the water and was about to give Lucius a piece of her mind when she caught a look at him. He was a sight to behold. His blonde hair flowed over his shoulders perfectly and his chest and stomach had a definition most men would kill for. The water that trickled down his body was even glowing, giving him an even more angelic look than usual. Serra was so in awe that she didn't even hear him call her name.

"Sister Serra, Sister Serra." Lucius called to no avail. He figured that the only way to get Serra out of this daze was to hit her with some water so he splashed some in her direction.

"Huh, what?" Serra asked as it hit her in the face. "Did you just hit me in the face with water?"

"Um, yes." Lucius said sheepishly. "I thought it the only way to rouse you from your trance. I apologize for doing it, and for my indecency." He covered his chest with his arms and Serra was disappointed.

"I don't mind. You actually look kinda handsome without your robes on." She said as she blushed a bit.

"Hm." Was all Lucius could say to that since he'd never thought about his body like that. "So, what brings you all the way out here Sister Serra? Is there something wrong?"

"You better belive something is wrong for me to walk through the woods and get my dress dirty." Serra said with a mix of genuine and fake anger.

"Well, how can I help you?" Lucius said smiling. Other people's problems he could deal with.

"Can you put some clothes on first, your chest is kinda distracting me." Serra answered. So Lucius got out of the water, dried off, and put his robes back on. Serra had to hold herself back with everything she had to not jump him right then and there. "Better?"

"Better."

"Then what is your problem Sister Serra?"

"Lucius, my problem is with you." Serra said bluntly.

"With me? Well, what have I done to offend you because I would never purposely do anything to hurt you." Lucius said a little shocked. But Serra didn't want to tell him straight out in case he ran away again.

"Lucius, I'm going to do something that may seem a bit forward and I want you to tell me how you feel afterward." She said and before he could respond she kissed him on the lips very tenderly. It lasted for a few seconds until she pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

"Conflicted." Lucius said for the second time this day. "I really enjoyed that Serra, but I don't know if a relationship with you is possible."

"Why? What do you mean?" Serra asked confused.

"I don't know if I would be morally strong enough to keep my vows to St. Elimine if we were to be together." Lucius explained.

"Is that all?" Serra asked sounding a bit amused.

"I don't see the humor in what I just said." Lucius responded flatly.

"You know Lucius, for a smart guy you're being really dense right now. You do know that I'm under pretty much the same vows as you right?" Lucius thought about this for a second and then his eyes opened wide.

"I am such a dolt." He finally said. "I was so focused on my side of the problem I never thought about how you felt. I'm sorry Serra, I put you through all this trouble for nothing."

"Aha! So you were running away from me."

"Yes, that's true. I was scared and didn't know what else to do." Lucius admitted.

"Silly Lucius, you know that I care for you. I mean I came out all this way to help you build and run an orphanage for goodness sake. And think about it, it won't matter that we can't have kids since we'll be helping out so many anyways." Serra told him. Immediately Lucius' radiant smile came back full force to her delight.

"Serra, now I know for sure St. Elimine put us together because she knew we would be able to work out our problems together and be happy." He said holding Serra's face in his hands. "If you don't mind, I would like to kiss you again since I wasn't ready the first time.

"I would like that very much." Serra said and he brought her head closer to his and kissed her very deeply. The two of them were so focused on each other that they didn't notice a certain red haired mercenary who had snuck up on them.

"Not what I was expecting to see." He commented.

"Lord Raymond!" Lucius exclaimed as Serra fell off his lap.

"You dummy!" She said as she stood up and brushed off her dress.

"Sorry, to interrupt your moment Lucius. But I came to see how you were doing. Looks pretty good in my opinion."

"How did you find us?" Lucius asked him.

"Mark told me where you were. He seemed like he knew this exact situation was going to happen too."

"Yeah, he's smart like that." Serra commented. "So what's new with you?"

"Well, that's part of why I'm here. There's someone I want you to meet." Raven said. So the three of them exited the forest and waiting at the end of the clearing was a little girl who looked no older than four years old.

"Oh, she's so cute." Serra said as the trio walked up to her. But she cowered behind Raven when they got close.

"It's okay, their my family." Raven told her and she stepped out to meet them.

"H-Hello. My name is Martha." The little girl said shyly.

"I ended up saving her from a bandit attack." Raven explained. "She was the only survivor and I figured that you could take care of her better than I could."

"It looks like the blessings of St. Elimine are many today." Lucius noted. "So how about it Martha, would you like to live with Serra and I?"

"Really, I can live with you?"

"Really." Serra answered. "Though you may have to help us build the house some."

"Yay!" Martha said jumping up and down. If you had told Lucius that this was the way today was going to go he would have smiled but not have believed you. But know that it has, he couldn't be happier.


End file.
